Protector of DETERMINATION(rewrite)
by red the creator
Summary: When the first bouncer, filled with rage and grief, finds a new charge, He makes an oath, an oath to protect her at all costs, that he'd never leave her side, and that he'd go through the world if he had to, and tear reality itself asunder (rewrite, I apologize if you liked the orginal, but I thought it was much worse than what I was capable of, so I hope you enjoy the rewrite.)
1. Prologue:(rewrite)

Life isn't fair.

It doesn't care about you or your family, or anybody, or anything. All life cares about, is keeping.

Things.

Balanced.

Even if that balance costs someone their entire world.

* * *

I'm a protector. I don't have a name, never needed one, what I do have, is a number.

1\. Just one. nothing more, nothing less, because I don't deserve a name. Why would I when my will isn't even my own.

But considering what my job is, I don't mind to much.

I'm brought out of my thoughts by giggling up ahead, bringing my attention to the drunk that just stumbled by and fell over, snoring loudly.

I sigh in exasperation and increase my pace, quickly catching up with my Emily.

Emily.

She's my entire world, so kind and gentle, always patient when I'm having trouble with something, never asks for anything.

She's the light of my life, everything I'm not, everything I can't be, she's the only thing thats kept me going for so long, that keeps these old bones moving, because the mere thought that someone would hurt, and torture my little girl for their own gain.

 **FILLS ME WITH RAGE.**

I take a deep breath, letting the anger drain away, and lightly tap Emily on the shoulder, before pointing down the hallway, indicating we needed to get going.

she looks back at me and smiles the most innocent, kind hearted smile, before turning and skipping down the corridor, softly humming a tune, setting my mind at peace, while I follow behind her at a relaxed pace, enjoying one of the few good things I have in this hell.

* * *

When I finally catch up to her, she's kneeling over a corpse, in the middle of her little routine of apologizing to the angel, and hoping it doesn't hurt to much, causing me to smile warmly. She's the nicest person I've ever met, and probably ever will meet, even apologizing to the corpses.

And it makes me love her even more, she makes me stronger, she's what keeps this withered heart pumping, and I will never forget that

My life may be horrible, I may equate to less than nothing, and own even less, but despite all that, and this world I live in.

I am happy.

I'm ripped from my thoughts when I hear Emily scream, my drill spinning up before I even know whats happening. What I find angers me.

pouring into the room is a horde of splicers, with a brute at the helm, laughing madly, swinging their weapons at nothing and firing all over the place. With their crazed eyes fixed on Emily.

I feel the rage building within me, me eyes burning red, they think they can come here and threaten me?! that they can take my Emily!? I let out my signature roar, that echos throughout all of rapture, and charge right into the middle of them.

They think they can fuck with the Grand Protector!? I am the oldest of the bouncers, I am the first! all who came after were based on me! and they think they can stroll in and take me down!? I stomp the ground and swing my drill in a large arc, knocking the splicers around me to the ground.

I roar again and stomp towards one of the downed splicers and flatten his head, before picking him up and using him as a bludgeon and beating a nearby leadhead to death, when I'm knocked forward.

I whirl around and roar at the brute splicer, who roars back, I stomp the ground, making the ground shake, and charge the brute killing dozens of splicers in the process, and smash my drill into his face, knocking him back with the audible crack of bones breaking, causing the brute to roar in pain.

Not stopping for a moment, I sprint towards a nearby wall and embed my hand and drill in it, quickly scaling to the top of it and roaring before jumping off and towards the brute drill first, but I'm only met with damaged floor.

I roar and my vision snaps towards the door, to find the brute running away, No! you won't get away with threatening me, my daughter, or anyone I love, ever again! I charge towards him and through the door, knocking him to the floor, I roar in his face and embed my drill in his torso, turning it on and turning his insides to mush, not stopping until his insides are a slurry of red mush, and standing up roaring at the remaining splicers who are trembling, before I'm knocked back to my senses when I hear a sound, a sound everybody in rapture dreads.

Cracking glass.

I whirl around in a panic, to find the Emily still in the other room, terrified, shouting for her daddy, frozen.

And a large glass window filled with bullets holes.

Before I even know whats happening, I'm sprinting towards the door, hand out stretched, and roar, getting her attention, getting her to turn to me, and smile in relief, that happy innocent smile that says everything's going to be alright.

smash.

In desperation, I push myself harder, as a wall of water rushes towards my little girl, I'm almost there, please, don't take her away from me, she's all I have, please just don't take my little girl away from me!

I'm nearly there, when suddenly, like a guillotine, the flood gate slams shut, leaving my last view of my sweet baby girl, her sweet smiling face, telling me, that she trusted me, that as long as I was around, everything would turn out alright.

I stop dead in shock, disbelief filling me, quickly being replaced with rage, and I slam my drill into the door, my roar echoing throughout rapture, filled with anger, rage and sadness, a very particular roar that is known well.

A roar, that meant a protector had failed.

You can't do this to me! she's my little girl, I protected her with everything I had, I promised her!, She was going to grow up happy, I would have fixed all of rapture for her!, I'd take on all of rapture alone for her!

I slowly fall to my knees, sobs wracking my body, the flood door heavily dented, please, anything but this, she's my singular drive in this hell.

I'm brought away from my mourning by mad laughter and disappointed groans from behind me, filling me with rage, nothing but endless rage.

They'll pay, they'll all pay, I'll make all of rapture suffer for daring to take my little girl away from me, I'll tear them limb from limb, I'll crush them, I'll break them, I'll make them suffer until the very end, Until there's nothing left!

I whirl around making all the splicers freeze, as all of other emotions drain away, all but rage, and unbeknownst to me, my portholes glowed a new kind of red, the purest kind, shining with a blinding red light, like the heart of the sun, reborn beneath the sea.

A force that would purge the ocean clean.


	2. Chapter 1: Reunited at last

Many years later...

In the year 20XX

* * *

I stare impassively from the ocean floor as the last of rapture finally crumbles, after years of work, of fighting, nothing but war, and endless rage and determination, and he'd finally done it, he'd slaughtered every last splicer, every big daddy, until there was nothing left but the buildings, all that remained of this tomb.

and finally, it was gone, fallen into the underwater trench, never to be seen again, and after so long, with my goal complete, I finally calmed down, felt the rage and drive to go on leave me.

I'd done it. I'd avenged Emily. I'd erased rapture. every last smudge of filth.

All but one.

I take a deep breath, and slowly walked towards the trench, reflecting on where this all started, so long ago. with Emily. my sweet little girl.

I'd searched everywhere, for days, years, I searched all of rapture and she was nowhere to be seen. I almost broke down, went mad.

but I remembered all the good times, all the hardships, and how she always trusted me to put things right whenever something went wrong.

and I remembered her sweet smiling face, with complete trust in me, even with death barreling straight towards her. and I pushed on, thought of her whenever I thought of giving up, and swore that nobody would live through this hell again, nobody would feel this pain.

So I started my war on rapture, I dismantled support structures, I erased every last ounce of adam, killed everything that lived in rapture, and purged it all with flames three times over.

and through it all, that rage never left me driving me every step of the way, I'm pretty sure I'd even heard some splicers screaming in fear about how the sun had come to take vengeance for leaving the surface.

I stop thinking when I reach the edge of the trench, leading down into the endless darkness, and take a deep breath, and nearly step forward when I feel something, in my heart, resonating, its strange, but I know it very well, this feeling of warmth, and innocence, telling me everything will be alright, causing me to whirl around, a bright green light shining out from my helmet, disbelief and hope filling.

I look around, and immediately feel something, from a particular direction, and I immediately set off with out a second thought, sprinting across the ocean floor.

I'm coming Emily!

* * *

She slumped against a tree and curled up on herself.

Why had she decided to do this? mom was gonna punish her again, lock her in the basement for trying to run away again.

She felt a sliver of hope build in her, but this was the first time she's gotten away! as long as she didn't find her, everything would be alright.

She felt that hope quickly shrivel up as she caught a glimpse of Mt Ebott, the place where people go and never come back, and remembered why she'd come this way in the first place.

Her mother would find her, she always did, had a knack for it, so frisk made a plan.

If she ever got away, ever escaped, she'd go there, the one place where nobody was found, where nobody returned from, and where her mother would never dare go.

She got up to continue her journey, a feeling of acceptance over taking her, when she felt something inside her, resonating, an alien feeling, a feeling of protection, and safety, of being protected and cared for by someone unstoppable.

Her eyes widened and she looked down, grabbing her chest, before looking around, and feeling something, behind her, in the direction of the ocean, that feeling of safety seemingly radiating from that way, and before she knew it she was walking, craving that feeling of being loved, and protected.

She was hopeful, and trusting in whatever this strange feeling was.

She just hoped she wasn't wrong.

* * *

for the first time since I entered rapture so long ago, something I could barely remember, I saw the sun, shining through the water, and it was mesmerizing.

Turned out rapture wasn't that far from land, it was In a particularly deep part of the ocean, and if I remember from when I was sailing there, so long ago, that area of the ocean was avoided because the water got really dangerous and sensor equipment just tended to break down.

But it wasn't far, the main obstacle was an incredibly high cliff, and if I looked at it right, It seemed that rapture was built in an underwater sinkhole, from how it was curved, which made sense, but with his climbing skills, it only took about a day or two to get to the top.

and the ocean up here, it was so much more beautiful than down there, colorful fish of all shapes and sizes, strange colorful plants, ancient ship wrecks, now home to corral and fish, swimming through the holes in the boat.

It was beautiful, and I almost wished I could stay.

almost.

I had to find Emily, so I started my walk towards the sand leading up to the surface, anxiety filling me at seeing the surface after so many years.

I bring a hand to my eyes as I break the surface of the water, the sun blinding me, before slowly bringing it down, and looking around in wonder, at the trees, the grass, the endless blue sky I'd forgotten about so long ago, the clouds, everything!

It was nothing like the ocean, and it was beautiful, no constantly crushing weight, no rusty tunnels waiting to cave in at any moment, no mutated, bloodthirsty monsters, It was free of it all, just full of life.

I shook my head and focused back on my mission, reminding myself why I was here in the first place, I had to find Emily, she was up here, she was alive, and she needed me.

I start my trek into the woods, following the feeling.

* * *

She put her head in her hands and groaned quietly.

What was she thinking? 'she got a nice feeling in her chest, lets follow it! I'm sure nothing bad will happen!'

She brought her hands away and hugged herself, getting a bit cold.

It didn't matter, she was set on this now, she was too curious, and she'd almost reached the beach anyway, she was just upset at how she'd been walking for two days and found nothing.

She's brought out of her sulking by heavy footsteps, causing her to look up in curiosity, only to freeze in fear at the thing in front of her.

It was huge, a big, bulky thing in an ancient diving suit, with a rusty drill for a hand and glowing green eyes, boring right into her.

She fell back in fear when it took a step forward, before scrambling backwards, soon feeling her back hit a tree.

she hugged her knees to her face and tried to curl up into as small a ball as possible, just wanting the monster to go away

she tried to ignore the sound of it slowly moving towards her, and hoping it wouldn't hurt her.

So she's a bit surprised when she feels a large hand lay itself on her head and gently pat her, and she's so taken by surprise she's pushing up into his touch before she can stop herself, like a cat craving affection.

Then she realized what she was doing, and who was petting her.

* * *

I felt a warm smile come to my face at her behavior, I was a bit surprised when I first ran into her, and my heart nearly broke when she tried to run from me, but I knew how to handle this, Emily had acted in the exact same way when they first met.

I slowly walked forwards towards the little girl, crouched down and pat her head, and just like I expected, she pushed her head into his hand, clearly enjoying the touch, and I chuckled internally when she froze and her face turned red.

It was Emily, I knew that this girl, was Emily, despite how different they looked, I could feel it, I didn't understand it, but it was enough for me, just to have some fragment of my little girl back.

her eyes slowly drifted upwards, disbelief and apprehension clear in her expression, so I responded by continuing to pat her head, causing her expression to relax immediately, and let out a soft sound of contentment.

When She's finally calmed down, I pull my hand away and sit down in front of her, lean backwards on my hands, and wait.

it takes a few minutes, but eventually, she comes out of her ball, and looks at me properly, before hesitantly asking in a small, soft voice "who are you?"

I think for a few minutes, before being straightforward and writing "DADDY" on the ground, and pointing at myself, then writing "DAUGHTER" on the ground and pointing at her.

she stared in incomprehension, before her eyes widened and tears started running down her face, before suddenly lurching forward, and hugging him tightly, tears running down her face.

* * *

It was him, she'd found him, she'd been so distracted that she didn't even realize he was the source of the feeling, the feeling of having someone you could always trust, someone who would take on the whole world for you and you alone. and now she knew why.

Daddy. It sounded right, it felt right, she didn't know why, but she trusted him, she loved him, with all her heart and soul, like someone who'd been missing for far too long, despite having never met before.

But she didn't care.

She'd found her daddy.

and she was never letting go.


End file.
